Why the Hardest Part of Dealing With Chronic Illness Is Other People | The Mighty

For me, the hardest part of dealing with chronic illness has and will always be other people. Silly, right? It’s not the pain or the sleepless nights. It’s not the constant hospital trips and treatments. It’s not the sickness and sadness that the life you thought you had, you have now lost.All of those things are heartbreaking and challenging, but fluctuate from day to day. Dealing with the general public doesn’t go away. Ever.Even when at my very strongest mentally, I tiptoe carefully around new people or in public places. I’ve experienced firsthand on a number of occasions just how cruel and intimidating people can be, when they feel they have the right to challenge my disability. There are of course an army of kind, considerate people that way outnumber those who are hostile, but that fear doesn’t ever quite go away.